Al-Janabi Raghad AbdulKareen Abdoun, Saleem Zainab Ali, Lami Faris, Jaber Osamah Abbas, Jasim Shatha Mohammed, Dehghan Nayeri Nahid, Shafiee Sabet Mahdi, Al-Gburi Ghaith
Al-Subtain Academy for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Iraq.
Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Iraq.
Autism. 2025 Aug;29(8):2058-2071. doi: 10.1177/13623613251334166. Epub 2025 May 9.
Parents experience lower quality of life due to the psychological, financial and social challenges of caring for an autistic child. This study aims to identify the independent demographic and social predictors of parents' quality of life, to allocate support to parents who truly need it. Al-Subtain Academy and Baghdad's National Center for Autism recruited 248 parents in a cross-sectional study from 3 January to 13 September 2024. Demographics, quality of life and social support were assessed using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Multiple linear regression models were significant for all domains except role functioning (p = 0.258). The explained variance ranged from 50.8% for health perception to 19.5% for physical functioning. Mothers reported lower health perception and physical functioning than fathers (p = 0.015, p < 0.001). Parents with chronic condition also reported lower health perception, mental health, social functioning and higher pain scores (p-values: <0.001, 0.029, 0.023, 0.014). In addition, parents of female children and those with comorbidities reported lower mental health (p-values: 0.018, 0.004). Marital satisfaction was positively associated with all domains except pain (negative association) and physical/role functioning (no association). In conclusion, mothers, younger parents, parents with chronic conditions or female children, or whose children have comorbidities should be prioritised during interventions that promote family functioning and social support.Lay AbstractParents can face emotional and social challenges when taking care of autistic children, which can lower their quality of life. These challenges do not affect all parents in the same way. That is why we need to find out which parents are having more trouble, so that we can give more support to those who need it the most. Our goal was to identify which background and social factors are linked to lower quality of life in parents of autistic children. First, we found that parents of autistic children have lower mental and social well-being than physical quality of life. We argued that the type of challenges faced by parents might be the cause. We also detected lower quality of life among mothers, younger parents, parents with long-term conditions or autistic daughters, or whose children have other conditions besides autism. Finally, we found that marital satisfaction was the most important element in social support. Marital satisfaction is linked to a better quality of life in all areas except being able to do normal daily tasks and physical activities.
由于照顾自闭症儿童面临心理、经济和社会挑战，父母的生活质量较低。本研究旨在确定影响父母生活质量的独立人口统计学和社会预测因素，以便为真正需要的父母提供支持。2024年1月3日至9月13日，阿尔苏布坦学院和巴格达国家自闭症中心在一项横断面研究中招募了248名父母。使用结构化的自填问卷评估人口统计学、生活质量和社会支持情况。除角色功能领域外（p = 0.258），所有领域的多元线性回归模型均具有显著性。解释方差范围从健康感知的50.8%到身体功能的19.5%。母亲报告的健康感知和身体功能低于父亲（p = 0.015，p < 0.001）。患有慢性病的父母报告的健康感知、心理健康、社会功能也较低，疼痛评分较高（p值：<0.001、0.029、0.023、0.014）。此外，女童的父母以及患有合并症的父母报告的心理健康较低（p值：0.018、0.004）。婚姻满意度与除疼痛（负相关）和身体/角色功能（无关联）外的所有领域呈正相关。总之，在促进家庭功能和社会支持的干预措施中，应优先考虑母亲、年轻父母、患有慢性病的父母或有女童的父母，或其子女患有合并症的父母。
照顾自闭症儿童时，父母可能会面临情感和社会挑战，这会降低他们的生活质量。这些挑战对所有父母的影响不尽相同。这就是为什么我们需要找出哪些父母遇到的困难更多，以便我们能够为最需要帮助的父母提供更多支持。我们的目标是确定哪些背景和社会因素与自闭症儿童父母的低生活质量有关。首先，我们发现自闭症儿童的父母在心理和社会幸福感方面低于身体生活质量。我们认为父母面临的挑战类型可能是原因所在。我们还发现母亲、年轻父母、患有长期疾病的父母、有自闭症女儿的父母或其子女除自闭症外还患有其他疾病的父母生活质量较低。最后，我们发现婚姻满意度是社会支持中最重要的因素。婚姻满意度与除能够进行正常日常任务和体育活动外的所有领域的更好生活质量相关。
